The efforts to pull the public sector pharmaceutical units out of the red received further momentum with former Chemicals and Fertilisers Secretary Satwant Reddy taking charge as advisor in the Chemicals Ministry to guide the revival packages of the sick units.

Besides, the much awaited Group of Ministers (GoM) to approve the proposed Rs 420 crore revival package for the Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) was also reportedly constituted by the Centre. However, the names of the members were yet to be officially announced, sources said.

Satwant Reddy, who retired as the Secretary for the Chemicals on May 31, was appointed as the advisor in the Ministry to look after the revival of the ailing units particularly. She was instrumental in spearheading the ongoing revival drive of the pharma PSUs during her term. She has already assumed charge and was not available for comments about the plans ahead for the PSUs as she is away on tour.

Meanwhile, the revival prospects of IDPL, which has been declared sick in 1992, also became brighter with the Government finally setting up the GoM to decide on the Rs 420-crore package. The Cabinet had referred the proposal prepared by the Chemicals Ministry some time back.

The package involves the revival of all the five units of the IDPL and part selling of its vast premises at Gurgaon is also being considered to fund the recovery process. Besides, a bridge loan is also planned to help the public sector giant come out of the red, sources said.

The package, submitted by the Board of Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) to the Government, was already vetted by an independent agency, ICRA, before it was placed before the Cabinet.

Units like Hindustan Antibiotics, Hindustan Insecticides Ltd, and Hindustan Organic Chemicals Ltd have been already under revival programme with the Government releasing much of the package sum to them. The Bengal Chemicals Ltd is also on the path of recovery. The major package pending before the Government is that of IDPL now.